Spokane House was established in 1810 by the North West Company, a British-Canadian fur trading company, with the express purpose of trading for furs with the natives. The post and the rivers of the same name are namesakes of the
Spokan, the people indigenous to the region. The site chosen was at the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers. There were several reasons for this choice of site, to whit:
• The Little Spokane was an excellent beaver river
• A large expanse of flat land useful for farming and grazing
• The Spokane River provided a plentiful supply of salmon
• This was the headquarters of the central branch of the Spokan Tribe
• The area provided a supply of timber and game animals
The post was operated by the North West Company until 1821 when the company was absorbed by the Canadian Hudson's Bay Company. Chartered in May of 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company, today referred to simply as "The Bay", is the oldest continuously operating company in North America.
This post continued to operate until 1825. The post was 90 miles from the Columbia River, the Company's major trade route, and by the 1820s the local beaver supply was exhausted. As a result, in 1825, the Company moved this post to Kettle Falls, renaming it Fort Colvile, after Andrew Colvile, a London governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Of the original post, all that remains is this monument to mark its former location and a State Park, Riverside Park.
The following timeline is inscribed on the monument:
First permanent white settlement in present state of Washington established by Northwest Fur Company - 1810
Located between this monument and confluence of Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers
Pacific Fur Company of John Jacob Astor, an American concern, built rival trading post - 1812
Taken over by Northwest Company - 1813
By Hudson's Bay Company - 1821
Governor Stevens camped and conferred with Indians - 1853
[At the time this fort was built], all the other merchandise in trade, including horses and guns, was valued in terms of beaver pelts. Prices on an 1824 list from Spokane House ranged from "Scissors" for "½ beaver," to "American rifles" for "30 beaver" (Becher, 39). British guns went for 18 beaver, while "One good horse" cost two pelts. In turn, beaver skins sold in London for two to eight dollars a pound, or in China for four dollars a pelt.
From History Link![]()